


Unexpected Comfort

by Somerandomauthorrr



Category: Undertale
Genre: Bad coping mechanisms, Everyone Has Issues, Frisk mentioned, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Sad bois, Sans Has Issues, Smoking, blue is a sweetheart, both are so sweet, chara mentioned - Freeform, papyrus deserves best brother award, papyrus is a sweetheart, sans has nightmares, sans smokes, swap!papyrus has issues, swap!papyrus has nightmares, swap!papyrus smokes, underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:19:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Somerandomauthorrr/pseuds/Somerandomauthorrr
Summary: Swap!Papyrus has nightmares, and after the classic brothers stay over, he learns that Sans does, too.Their brother’s don’t expect to be the ones comforting their brother’s alternate selves, but they’re prepared.





	1. Porches and Papyruses

**Author's Note:**

> Papyrus is a sweetheart and we stan him 
> 
> -panic attacks  
> -reset nightmares  
> -sad things

_“Sans? Sans! Come on bro, where are you? Sans!” ___  
_There didn’t seem to be an inch of snowdin he hadn’t checked. The snow was being replaced so rapidly that footprints were unreadable. Papyrus looked as though he’d gone mad, frantically searching for his brother. Nobody was around to ask if they’d seen him. After hearing they had been slaughtering monsters, Undyne called for an emergency evacuation. However, word hadn’t reached Sans, and Papyrus only heard when he called her to see if Alphys had heard from him while he was at work. ___  
_‘At work’, or rather, slacking off, again. ___  
_He’d never regretted something more. ___  
_“Sans! Come on Sans, please answer me. I can’t…I can’t do this without you bro. Sans?” ___  
_A weak voice interrupted his aggressive snow-crunching footsteps, calling his name._  
“Papy…rus?” __  
_“Sans!” He rushed towards the voice, a worried smile forming. Sans was standing in front of him, but facing the other direction. “Goddamn, you scared the shit out of me. We gotta get out of here, Undyne called for an evacuation. The human, they-“ “they’ve been killing monsters.” ___  
_“Yeah, we gotta…go…” ___  
_Sans turned to face his brother, hands shaking. Hell, his whole body was shaking. Marrow dripped from his neck, fingertips dissipating into the snow. “Paps, I don’t...feel too hot.” ___  
_He barely hit the snow before Papyrus stopped him. ___  
_“Sans, hey, you’re okay, just-this can’t be happening. Not you, anyone but you.” His brother clutched his orange hoodie with what was left of his fingers, laughing weakly. “I tried…to stop them. I thought, maybe, they could…they could change.” “And you did so well. You tried so hard.” Papyrus felt tears slip from his sockets, dropping onto the blue sweater his brother was wearing. He should’ve been there. He should’ve stopped the human before they got to his brother. He shouldn’t have been so fucking lazy- ___  
_“Papyrus, I feel…bad.” “Hey, you’re okay. You’ll be okay, you have to be. Somebody as magnificent as you can’t dust.” He couldn’t die. Not like this. Not by them. “Sans, just stay with me, please.” ___  
_His body was falling apart in his arms. Dust mixed with the soft snow beneath them, his skull still flashing a sad smile. “I love you Papyrus.” ___  
_“I love you too Sans, I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t been so lazy, if I had just fucking-“ “hey, Paps, it’s okay. It’s…okay…” ___  
_Papyrus grasped at his clothes, oxygen forcing itself in and out of his non-existent lungs rapidly. “No. No no no no, please. Please don’t go, please Sans, I can’t watch you die again. I can’t do this. Not without you. No!” ___  
_Tears stained the snow a soft orange, Blue’s weak laughter permeating the air. “It’s okay Papyrus, it’ll be okay. I…I believe in you.” ___  
All that was left in his hands was his soft, worn scarf. __  
_“No, not Sans, anybody but Sans! No, no, no!” ___  
“Please, not him!”  
Stretch shot up in his bed, hands gripping the sheets for dear life. Orange flames picked up the side of his skull, giving the room a delicate glow. Air seemed to be everywhere but his circulatory system, even if it seemed to _vanish out of thin air _. Panic settled in quickly, tears running down his cheeks continuously. “Sans…”__  
He clawed at his black tank top, pulling at the material. He needed something to ground him, anything. And yet, all he could do was look around the room frantically, searching for his absent brother.  
He wasn’t there. He wasn’t anywhere near him. He was _dead _. He had to be. Sans was dead, and he hadn’t been there soon enough to save him. He’d been so fucking lazy, he let his dear brother _die _. Sans turned to dust in his goddamn hands and it was all his fault.____  
Small whimpers and his desperate gasps were all he could hear, his heart beating so hard he thought it would burst out of his chest. Sans wasn’t here to ground him. Sans was dead. His brother was _dead- ___  
Frantic knocks on the door interrupted his anxiety, but not enough to halt it.  
“Other me! Hello?! You seem distressed! I’m coming in!”  
Who the hell was taking to him? It had to be that sick fucking human, coming back to take him down with his brother. As if taking his brother wasn’t enough, _killing _him wasn’t enough, now they were trying to fuck with him too-__  
“Hey, calm down please! You need to breathe, other me. You’re having a panic attack.”  
That voice. It wasn’t the human’s. It wasn’t his brother’s. It wasn’t his own. It was…more excited. More enthusiastic. But…it sounded concerned. He tried to open his eyes, but his vision was clouded with tears and panic.  
“W-What? Where’s Sans? What did you do with Sans?!” “He’s in his bedroom sleeping. You’re safe, and your version of my brother is safe. Other me, you’re having a panic attack, you’re not wherever you think you are.”  
“I watched him die. He _died _. How can he-“ “he didn’t die, he’s alive and safe.” He momentarily relaxed, before the anxiety resettled. “Who the hell are you?”__  
“I’m the Great Papyrus, I’m another version of you. We’re staying with you for a few days. We’re in your house, on the surface. Your brother is in his bedroom, and my brother is downstairs. You’re safe.” He hesitated, searching for a way to get the distressed alternate version of himself to relax. “Can I touch you?”  
“Uh…y-yeah, yeah.”  
Papyrus delicately took Stretch’s hands away from his ribs, where he was clawing at the hem of his tank. He held them within his own, keeping his grip tight but lax. “You were having a nightmare. Thankfully, the Great Papyrus is trained in such areas!”  
His eyes returned to their usual pinpricks, the tears coming to a stop. “Sans is…in his room?” “Yes, would you like to see him?” “No! I mean…let him sleep. He doesn’t do that often. But, he is in there?”  
His vision cleared up. He could see classic Papyrus, sitting in front of him with a sad smile. “Yes, he’s here, unharmed. Take a deep breath, if you can.”  
He made a half assed attempt to calm down, a headache quickly forming. “S-sorry for wakin you up.” “No matter! I was already awake, but your shriek alarmed me. Are you okay?”  
He needed a cigarette. He needed a cigarette _really bad. _He didn’t think he’d ever craved one more than he did at that moment. “I think I need some fresh air.” “Okay, I shall accompany you-“ “no thanks.”__  
He felt bad for cutting him off like he did, shakily standing up. “I mean, I just need some space. But uh...thanks for calmin me down an all.” “It’s no problem! Let me know if I can assist you again!” “Sure thing.” 

______________________________He slowly descended on the stairs, pausing to look up at his brother’s room. After a moment, he could hear light snores, signaling his attendance. He sighed in relief, continuing his descent.  
Once he reached the ground floor, he noticed a severe lack in a skeleton laying on the couch. It worried him, but he assumed he might just have gone out.  
He found him again once he stepped outside onto the porch.  
Sans was sitting on the steps, skull in his hands. He was mumbling to himself, sockets set on the snow.  
“Uh, hey?”  
He whipped around in record time, hope in his eyes. “Paps?-oh, it’s other bro.” He gave a disappointed smile, blue droplets dotting the corners of his sockets.  
“He’s inside, I accidentally woke him up.”  
A hesitation sat between them for a moment before sans spoke up. “He’s...okay?” “Yeah, I woke up screamin’ and he came in to chill me out. Bad night?”  
He nodded, laughing quietly. “Worse than usual.”  
Stretch nodded, pulling out one of his many cigarette packs from under one of the stairs. It was the only place Blue didn’t look. “Want one?”  
Unexpectedly, he accepted the offer.  
Stretch lit his own first, quickly doing the same to the other. “Didn’t think you smoked.” “I try not to.”  
They both exhaled thick clouds of smoke, the smell filling their senses quickly. “You get em too?” “What, nightmares? Yeah, usually about Paps. He’s the one to calm me down. That, and a quick trip to Grillby’s.” He laughed, inhaling nicotine slowly. “I would’ve come to help, but I was a bit tied up at the moment.”  
Stretch nodded, nudging his shoulder with his own. “Hey, your bro’s real good at groundin people. He learn that from you?” A laugh wiped the grin from his skull. “He learned it _because _of me.”__  
Curiosity plagued his thoughts for a mere moment before he dismissed any inquiries. He didn’t want to bother him with questions at the moment.  
They sat in silence, smoking together. Stretch felt his anxiety ebb, relaxation flooding over him like cold water. Once his cigarette was down to the butt, he stomped it out on the ground. Sans did the same, listening to the sounds of an empty neighborhood surround them.  
He broke the silence momentarily. “Man, we have great brothers, don’t we?”  
Stretch felt a smile creep onto his face, letting a laugh press past his teeth. “Yeah, we do.” 


	2. Repetition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We go around once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning-graphic violence, major character death (nightmare), panic attacks (again), Blue being a sweetheart

_Their footsteps echoed through the hall, golden light cascading shadows across the checkered floor. They slowly approached one of the windows, looking at the stained glass in admiration. They’d made it. They were so close to freeing everyone. So very close.  
“You’ve been busy, huh?”   
They turned to face the skeleton with a smile, bounding up to him. They were so ready to break the barrier. Eagerness bloomed within them. They nodded quickly, but their elation quickly faded.   
Sans wasn’t smiling.   
“I’ve got a question for ya.”   
Frisk was desperately confused. They knew he would greet them with a smile and they’d talk for a minute or two before they’d go to the barrier. But he wasn’t smiling.   
“Do you think even the worst person can change? That everybody can be a good person if they just try?”   
It clicked.   
This was his monologue. He thought this was a genocide run. He thought Papyrus was dead.   
“Sans? Where’s Papy?”   
His eye lights faded, black void engulfing his sockets. “You know exactly where he is, you dirty brother killer.”   
They felt their feet leave the ground, and immediately slam back into it. The rest of their body followed, a deep laugh emitting from the skeleton before them.   
“S-Sans! I didn’t kill Papy! He’s okay! I promise, he’s okay!” “Don’t fucking lie to me.”   
His eye burned with magic, blue flames licking up the side of his skull. He slammed them into the walls, yelling loud enough for them to hear. “Kids like you should be burning in hell.”   
“Sans-“ they let out a mangled cry, choking out the words as his grip on their soul tightened. “Please Sans, I didn’t hurt anyone! I’m not going to hurt anyone! Please!”   
He ignored their cries, dropping them to the floor. “You can’t understand how this feels.”   
“Sans, please!” They slowly primed themselves from the ground, rushing towards him. It only took a moment of hesitation for Frisk to latch onto his jacket, embracing him tightly. “It’s me. Please Sans, just calm down. I’m going to free everyone. I promise. No more resets. No more fighting.”   
His labored breathing filled their ears as they desperately gripped his form. “I promise, I’m going to make it up to you. Nobody’s ever going to-“   
He shoved a bone through their fragile body, their soul shattering on impact. He wedged it back and forth, blood spurting from the wound like a broken hose. He dropped the body onto the floor, a scowl masking his features. The bloody bone was still in his hand.   
“D i r t y b r o t h e r k i l l e r . . .”  
“Brother?”   
The sweet voice of his brother hit him a second too late, the realization lagging.   
“Papyrus?” “Sans!” He ran into the hall, smiling sweetly. “How are you-“   
He stopped short in front of the human’s mangled corpse.   
“Human? Sans, what happened? Human!”   
He dropped to his knees, shaking their body frantically. “Frisk! Human! Oh no, what…”   
His eyes travelled up to see Sans holding a bloody bone, disbelief apparent. “They…they killed you Paps. You died. They…they killed everyone.”   
He dropped the bone, meeting his brother’s horrified gaze. “Sans…how could you do this?”   
“I was protectin Asgore! They killed you Paps!”   
Papyrus shook his skull, standing up. The blood was still dripping from his gloves.   
“You’re a murderer, Sans.” “I…I didn’t know! Paps, you gotta believe me, I thought-I thought you were dead!”   
He backed away, fear pulling him along. “Sans…you’re a killer.”   
“Papyrus, please! I’m not a murderer! Papyrus!”   
He had already backed out of the hall, desperate to escape what once was his brother. ___

___“Papyrus, no!”  
Sans shot up on the couch, eye flaming bright blue. He looked around frantically, desperately searching for Papyrus. He had to apologize. He didn’t mean to kill them. He didn’t do it in cold blood. They had murdered him. He was saving everyone. They had to be stopped. He wasn’t a killer. He wasn’t. They had _killed _him. They-___  
“Lazier me, calm down!”   
Sans looked up to see his own face, staring right back at him. He was dreaming. He had to be. This was some fucked up nightmare, it had to be. He wasn’t-  
“Hey, why don’t you calm down, okay? You’re clawing at your ribs. You’ll hurt yourself.”   
Sans could feel his soul pulsing. He didn’t have time for this. He had to find Papyrus. He had to apologize to Papyrus. He had to tell Papyrus he wasn’t crazy.   
“Okay, let’s just…” he watched himself pull his hands away from his chest, setting them on the cushions below him. His hands were firmly pressed on top of his, words spoken calmly. “Just breathe. Papyrus will be back momentarily. He’s just at the store getting breakfast spaghetti ingredients.” He gave a light chuckle, turning his attention back to what was happening. “You’re okay. And so is he.”   
“Wait…Blue?” “Yep! I heard you yelling and came down to make sure you were okay. Clearly, that was the right choice.” He was beaming happily, pride coursing through his bones. It was quickly replaced with concern. “What happened?”   
“The-the kid, they killed him. Are you sure he’s okay? I need to know that he’s okay.” “Lazy me, I can guarantee that your brother is okay.” He set a reassuring hand on his shoulders, pushing them back lightly. “You need to relax, you’ll get sick.”   
He did his best to regulate his breathing, anxiety clinging to him like freezing snow. “Papyrus is okay. He’s just at the store. He’s okay.”   
After a few minutes, Sans managed to calm down enough to the point where he could stand. “I’m gonna splash some water on my skull, thanks for the solace and all.” “Of course! Anything for an alternate version of myself!”   
He shakily climbed the stairs, heading towards the one bathroom between the brother’s bedrooms. He clung to the railing for dear life as he ascended, bones rattling quietly. 

____“Paps is okay, you’re with Stretch and Blue. It’s okay.” He splashed cold handfuls of water on his face, letting the runoff drip into the sink slowly. With each passing moment, he seemed to be calming down. Papyrus would be back any minute and they’d sit and joke for a while. He was okay.  
To be fair, Blue was pretty damn good at comforting people having just woken up from nightmares. He must be, considering-_ _ _ _

_______A startled yell caught his attention quickly.  
It came from Stretch’s room, and sounded way too familiar.   
He rushed towards the cracked door quickly, yet halting just before he barged in. Bad idea, don’t freak out the panicking skeleton. If he was anything like him (and considering the situation, he practically _was _him), he wouldn’t react very well.___  
He tilted the door open, his own anxiety returning quickly.   
Stretch was sitting upright in his bed, magic flaring around his soul. His eyes darted around the room frantically while he pressed himself to the wall.   
This wasn’t exactly a scene he wanted to see, but he didn’t really find himself having much of a choice.   
“Hey, buddy, everything’s okay.” He approached slowly, hesitating once his orange eye turned his direction. “W-…Sans?” “Yeah, it’s just me bud. You’re okay.”   
He backed up towards the wall, orange light bouncing off the walls. Sans tried desperately to think of some way to calm him down without fucking things up. After a moment or two, it came to him.   
“What do you see?”   
Stretch glanced around the room, chest heaving frantically. “Orange. Sunset orange. Stained glass windows. The…the kid…”   
It was quite a familiar setting. “You’re in judgement hall, aren’t you?” A nod answered his question as he lowered his volume. “Stretch, listen to me, you’re not there. If you were, I wouldn’t be here, right?”   
Another nod signaled he understood the words spoken. “See? You’re in your own bed, and Blue’s downstairs, and you’re on the surface. You’re not in the hall.” He slowly approached the mattress, speaking calmly. “You’re not there man.”   
Stretch eventually settled down, the magic fading from his eye. Two pinpricks were visible in the pale moonlight illuminating the room through the window. He let out a shaky sigh, followed by an equally unsteady laugh. “Sorry about that. Usually try to, yknow, suffer in silence.” He pulled back the sheet he was entangled in, standing up. “Wanna go out for a smoke?” “Actually, yeah.” 

_______As the two sat outside in silence, blowing smoke into the cool air, they drew solace from another’s understanding.  
It’s hard to wake up screaming every few nights, desperate for something to ground you. Anything to level you out. To know that your brother will never admit it, but you will always be an obligation. A burden of sorts. You will never sleep normally, because even if you do, you’ll wake up with tears streaming down your cheeks and shadows crawling across the walls with menacing grins.   
However, it’s a little easier when you know somebody else knows just what it’s like._ _ _ _ _


End file.
